He hit the winning home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth for the Hornets as they defeated the Central Missouri Mules, 7-6, in the second game of the championship round. Marasco had been hitless in four previous trips to the plate in the game before clinching ESU's first tourney crown since 1993 by taking a 2-0 pitch over the leftfield wall.

In the first game of the day, he doubled and scored what would be the deciding run in the third to give the Hornets a 5-0 lead en route to an 8-4 win. Marasco also drove home the game's first run on two-out single in the first inning and finished 2-for-3 at the plate with a stolen base and a hit by pitch.

He reached on a bunt single in the first and scored as part of a five-run opening frame in an 8-1 win over Northwest Missouri State Saturday (May 12). Marasco finished the game 3-for-5.

Marasco was 2-for-3 in ESU's only loss of the weekend, a 16-6 setback to the Mules earlier Saturday. His run-scoring double in the fifth gave the Hornets a 4-3 lead.

He broke a 5-5 tie in the fifth inning of Emporia State's opening win, a 9-7 decision over Northwest with a solo homer with one out. Marasco was 2-of-4 at the plate against the Bearcats on Friday (May 11).

Marasco is a graduate of Maize High School, and transferred to ESU from Kansas State University following his sophomore season.

Nehls, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior from Hays, Kan., went 2-0 for the Hornets in the MIAA Postseason tournament with a 3.12 ERA in two appearances (one start) last weekend.

He tossed two innings of two-hit relief in ESU's opener to get the decision in a 9-7 victory over Northwest Missouri State Friday (May 11).

Nehls hit a batter and struck out four against the Bearcats as the Hornets snapped a 7-7 tie in the bottom of the eighth to give him the win. He picked off a runner and struck out another to preserve the tie in the top of the frame.

He was tabbed for the start in the first game against Central Missouri on Championship Sunday (May 13), allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits in six innings of work. He retired the first eight Mules faced, and didn't surrender an earned run until the fifth.

Nehls ended his last two innings with strikeouts as UCM had runners on base -- he fanned four and walked three in the game.

He is a graduate of Hays High School, and transferred to ESU from Barton County (Kan.) Community College.

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